1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically supplying an exact amount of water to an ice tray provided in a refrigerator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator includes a water supplying apparatus which supplies a water to an ice tray which is disposed in a refrigerating compartment of the refrigerator. Hereinafter, a refrigerator having a conventional water supply device be explained. FIG. 8 shows the structure of a conventional water supply device. As shown in FIG. 8, a refrigerator has a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment 110 which is arranged above the freezing compartment 115. A water tank 6 and a water container 2 are interconnected with each other, and are contained in the refrigerating compartment 110. An ice tray 5 for making ice cubes is provided in the freezing compartment 115. The water container 2 has a partition plate 4 which partitions the inner of the water container 2 into a first chamber 2a and a second chamber 2b. The partition plate 4 has a hole 4a for communicating the first chamber 2a and the second 2b with each other. The first chamber 2a communicates with the water tank, and the second chamber 2b communicates with the ice tray 5 by a water supply pipe 8. A pump 3 is provided in the refrigerating compartment 110 for pumping water contained in the second chamber 2b to the ice tray 5. Reference numeral 7 in the FIG. 8 denotes a valve unit for opening and closing the communicated port 6a of the water tank 6 and the first chamber 2a.
In the conventional apparatus for supplying water as described above, the water which is contained in the water container 2 is supplied to the ice tray 5 by the driving force of the pump 3. However, the conventional apparatus for supplying water doesn't have a sensing device for sensing a quantity of water which is supplied to the ice tray 5. Therefore, the water can overflow from the ice tray 5 when a lot of water is supplied to the ice tray 5, and an ice having a smaller size than a required size can be made when little water is supplied to the ice tray 5.
Further, in order to sense a quantity of the water which is supplied to the ice tray 5, there must be additionally provided a sensing device, which heightens the cost of the apparatus for supplying water.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,743 issued to Hidehara Hatanaka et al. discloses an apparatus for supplying water to an automatic ice making apparatus. However, in Hidehara Hatanaka et al.'s apparatus, since the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are always communicated with each other by the water supply route, the cooling air may flow from the freezing compartment to the refrigerating compartment.